Michelangelo Signorile On Why HERO Failed Last Night In Houston

Political strategists warned LGBT activists in the days ahead of the vote: There was little Spanish-language outreach, no big ad buy in Spanish-language media -- in a city that is 44% Hispanic -- countering the lies of the opposition, who'd certainly been doing their own outreach. Monica Roberts, a long-time African-American transgender activist, warned of little outreach in the black community, which makes up 24% of the city. There was little emphasis by the LGBT rights coalition on the terrible economic impact that a "no" vote to equality would have on the city -- something else that political strategists warned was lacking in their campaign as well. And no ads by LGBT rights proponents held the equal punch that the nasty hate ads embodied. Instead, they overwhelmingly ran nicey-nice ads about good neighbors and equality and human dignity.

And so, it wasn't a shock, really, that the vote wasn't even close last night. LGBT rights were clobbered, hammered, devastated in the city of Houston by voters, as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was repealed.

Michelangelo goes on to note that the haters opposing Prop 1 were extremely successful in recasting the entire issue as "men" using ladies rooms.

The campaign by LGBT advocates lacked the "bite" that our opponents brought to the fight. We played too nice, mimicking what happened in 2008 in California with Prop 8.

Michelangelo warns of "victory blindness" many seem to be suffering from after years of success bringing marriage equality to the country.

Truly, it is time to shake that off and realize we still have great work to do on behalf of equal rights for LGBTs.